CRP Subsea wins contract with Shell for deepwater development offshore Houston

UK-headquartered CRP Subsea, part of AIS, has won a contract with Shell for the supply of crushable foam wrap (CFW) for a deepwater development located offshore Houston in the Gulf of Mexico/America.

The initial order for the Whale development is for one well-set, with additional orders for four more well-sets expected throughout the year.

Each well-set comprises 1,798 CFW quadrants, each one metre in length. The package also includes installation equipment, such as adhesive, adhesive dispensing guns, tie wraps, and spanset straps.

According to CRP Subsea, CFW is an engineered syntactic foam, comprised of a thermoset resin and hollow glass microspheres (HGMS), designed to be installed around the inner drill casing, which is then immersed in the annulus fluid.

As pressure within the annulus increases, the CFW will collapse at a pre-determined pressure and temperature combination, as dictated by well conditions. This controlled collapse allows for the expansion of annulus fluid, dispersing potentially destructive pressure build-up, the company explains.

The CFW will be produced at CRP Subsea’s Skelmersdale facility, with project engineering commencing imminently. Delivery of the first well-set is scheduled for Q3 2025.

Following the hydrocarbon discovery in 2017, Shell made a final investment decision in July 2021 for the Whale deepwater development in the Perdido Corridor. Shell is the operator and owns 60%, with its partner Chevron owning 40%.

The companies started production from the deepwater project at the beginning of this year.

“It’s fantastic that Shell has chosen us to support this exciting deepwater project. We’ve been manufacturing and deploying crushable foam wrap for decades, helping to protect wells around the world. This contract is a great validation of our team’s expertise and dedication to delivering high-quality solutions for the industry,” said Andy Smith, CRP Subsea’s Head of Sales.

CRP Subsea recently won multiple new deals, including an assignment to provide a protection solution for two high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables and a fiber optic cable (FOC) destined for an underwater green electricity project between the U.S. and Canada, as well as an order for distributed buoyancy modules (DBMs) for a deepwater oil field project in the pre-salt Santos Basin offshore Brazil.

Last month, the UK firm was appointed to deliver DBMs for a natural gas development off the Eastern Mediterranean coast.